“Bid me run and I will strive with things impossible.” William Shakespeare, from the play Julius Caesar, Act 2, Scene 1
Running is incredible.
Take it from a runner to say this. But it is true. I mean it. I am eternally grateful to this sport and all it has provided me. I’ve been a lifelong athlete—tennis player, mountain biker, gym rat, hiker—but running holds a special place in my soul. For the longest time, I always considered myself a tennis player (and I still am), but when I caught the running bug, I was overjoyed. The first time I ran three miles—November 18, 2010—I was not only amazed I had done it, but more impressed and excited with the possibilities of what my body could, and CAN, do. If you had told my high school self that one day I would A) like running and, B ) like it enough to run almost daily, and C) be so enamored of it to run marathons, I would have laughed in your face. I would not have believed all this. But lo and behold, here I am. Clad in running shorts, running shoes on my feet. App on my phone that keeps track of my mileage, Fitbit on my wrist. Researching my next race: which one? Better yet: which destination? Running in and of itself has, and continues to be a journey: physically, mentally, and emotionally. Running served as the sport, the transition, when I stepped away from competitive tennis play. From six to 20, tennis was my life. I knew I could not, would not ever cease to be an athlete, to be athletic, and running served as the new stepping stone. 2014 was my running year, averaging 40 miles a week for several months. Like clockwork, I was looping around Orchard, 12th, North, and 7th around my alma mater, Colorado Mesa University. Up to six days a week, there I was, still in my tennis gear, literally running around campus and beyond. To North Desert, the wide open expanse beyond town, to the popular mountain bike trails of Tabeguache. To Barcelona, Spain, running up Las Ramblas and to La Sagrada Familia…and of course, running in the shadow and slopes of my beloved foothills. To my dying day, many of my happiest memories will be of running in Colorado’s great outdoors—mountains, deserts, foothills. My terrain, my space, my place, where running allows me to explore and find solitude.
Running has given me both physical and mental fortitude. It provides discipline, and adventure. But best of all, running has given to me the best of friends, a support crew. We runners have seen, and felt, a lot. We know what it is to suffer; running has taught us that. From the physical pain of blisters, aches, sprains, injuries, to mental depletion, stemming from doubt, anger, fear of failure, running brings humility and perspective. I am grateful for the wonderful, positive people I have come to know and call friends, through running. Running has and will always be there, through the highs and lows, the ebb and flow that is life. We who run choose not to run away from challenges and obstacles, but to embrace them, and emerge stronger. So yes, bid us all run, and we will strive through the impossible.
~LMC